Teacher+Response+Styles


 * __Chris Anson's 3 Types of Responders:__**

In a 1989 study of teacher response styles, Anson discovered 3 major types of responders:


 * Dualistic**


 * focuses on surface features of student text
 * characterized by the presents of ample in-text comments and editing marks
 * implies that there are standards for a correct and incorrect way to complete the assignment
 * the teacher's job is to act as a judge by applying the standards
 * few alternatives for revision are suggested
 * students intentions or meaning are largely ignored
 * 3/4 of teachers responded in this manner


 * Relativistic**
 * comments focus on the meaning the student is conveying; the text itself is largely ignored
 * typically write little or nothing in the margins of the student paper; responses appear at the end of student essays
 * written in a casual and unplanned style; comments resemble letters or short notes
 * judgment seems to be in the eye of the beholder; emphasizes that readers' judgments and preferences are idiosyncratic and personal
 * very little is imposed on the student; the writer must infer new directions


 * Reflective**
 * comments emphasize a range of concerns for each student-- ideas, textual decisions, personal reactions-- which weave in and out of the commentary
 * teachers offer suggestions as representative readers-- as members of the classroom and wider social community
 * comments are never phrased as directives (e.g. "maybe you could think about...," "what if you...," and "how about seeing if there's a way to...")
 * "An intellectual, mature, balanced style, one that neither dogmatically insists on one set of concerns nor abandons the need to work on and improve the text; a style that neither ignores meaning in favor of criticizing surface mechanics nor forgets the text in an effort to interact with [the student] through his writing." (352).

Source: Anson, Chris. "Response Styles and Ways of Knowing." //Writing and Response: Theory, Practice, and Research//. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 1989.